


Sempiternal

by qraces



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Character Death, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-08-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25490029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qraces/pseuds/qraces
Summary: When rival spies Annabeth Chase and Percy Jackson have to work together on an assignment regarding the arcane yet dangerous Circle of Othrys, they had no idea what they were dealing with. Spy AU.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Kudos: 16





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me be real with you, I don't know anything about what spies do, but I did watch Totally Spies, K. C Undercover and Totally Spies so that must count for something. Anyways, thanks to Vi for giving me feedback on this (or praise, you're too nice) and here it is:
> 
> Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rick Riordan

Annabeth Chase walked down the dark hallways of the Imíaimos Institute, her back stiff and head held high. Surrounded by an aura of temerity and arrogance, fellow spies stepped back as she strode past them, her black heels clacked against the cold tiled floor as she reached Athena’s office, she knocked on the tall door, mentally preparing herself to face the cold woman she called her boss.

“In.” Athena’s strict voice called from behind the black wooden door.

Annabeth opened the door and entered the office, her footsteps light like a lion stalking its prey, closing the door behind her, Annabeth turned to look at Athena, who sat behind her mahogany desk in her black armchair. The plaque on her desk, which reads _Athena Pantazis_ gleamed in the lamplight of the room.

“You asked for me, Ms. Pantazis?” Annabeth sighed inwardly at the lack of voice cracks as she spoke.

“Perseus Jackson, do you know him, girl?”

Annabeth did know him. Perseus Jackson, a spy from their rival agency, Atlantída Academy. One of the best at that, some rumours say he’s even better than Annabeth and others say he got promoted six months after being recruited, faster than anyone before him, Annabeth wasn’t fond of either rumour.

Athena continued, not letting Annabeth speak.

“You two will be working together on an assignment regarding the Circle of Othrys, a file about it is on your desk, we will discuss more with Jackson and Poseidon tomorrow” She gestured for Annabeth to leave.

Annabeth walked back to her desk, dazed, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The Circle of Othrys was a group of people keen on controlling the world, and they probably were already. Members of the Circle are unknown, except for one, Kronos Hasapis. With strong ties with politicians, the Circle was almost untouchable, working discreetly and with the help of big names, almost nothing was known about them. Except for the Scythe. The Scythe was, well, no one knew. It could be a plan, it could be a weapon, no one had any idea, that’s what made the Circle of Othrys so dangerous, they could be planning something as cliche as world domination and no one would know.

Shooting a smile at Drew, Annabeth approached her desk, a beige Manila folder titled Assignment: 00297 sits on the black surface of the table. She picked it up as she sat down, opening it, she stared at the typed out words on the thin sheets.

**Assignment: 00297**

**Assigned; Annabeth Chase (Imíaimos Institute), Perseus Jackson (Atlantída Academy)**

Annabeth scowled at Perseus' name, the dark letters stand out against the stark white paper.

**Task; get close to Ethan Nakamura and find information about the Circle of Othrys, specifically; Kronos Hasapis and the Scythe.**

**Ethan Nakamura:**

**Date of Birth: November 13, 1994**

**Mother: Nemesis Kokkinos**

**Father: Max Nakamura**

**Physical Attributes: East Asian, eyepatch over left eye, brown eyes, black hair**

Annabeth sighed, who was Ethan Nakamura and what connection does he have with the Circle of Othrys? How was she supposed to get close to him? She didn’t get it, it’s not like she could just walk up to him and go ‘ _Hey! What do you know about the Circle of Othrys, Kronos Hasapis, and the Scythe?’_

“What happened to you?” Drew Tanaka asked as she noted Annabeth’s confused face.

Annabeth slid the folder over to her and watched as Drew’s face shifts from confusion to shock.

She looked at Annabeth, eyes wide. “The Circle of Othrys and the Scythe? How are you supposed to do that? No one even knows what the Scythe is or if it’s even real.”

“Exactly! How am I supposed to find information about something that might not even exist? With someone from Atlantída nonetheless.”

Drew shook her head. “What was Athena thinking?”

Annabeth steals the folder back from Drew, bringing her shoulder back pridefully she spoke. “She was thinking that if anyone could find information about the Circle of Othrys, it would be me.”

“Damn your pride,” Drew muttered, shaking her head, her concern still obvious in her features and posture.

::

**Pose as a married couple and go undercover as a conservation biologist and curator of education at Phorcys Aquarium where Nakamura works as a registrar.**

Drew cackled as Annabeth read the words over and over again until they’re seared into her mind.

“Pose as a married couple?!” Annabeth exclaimed, glaring at the paper and Connor.

“Hey, I’m just the messenger, you can talk to Ms. P if you have a problem.” He held his hands up, shrugging his shoulders helplessly.

“No! No, Ms. Pantaziz doesn’t need to be involved, I can handle it.” Annabeth jumped up, her aversion to Connor's suggestion clear.

“Why do you want to impress her so much, Annabeth? God,” Drew asked.

“I just want to show her that she can trust me!”

“Annabeth, she’s Athena Pantazis. She trusts no one.” Drew raised a dark eyebrow at her.

“Well, maybe I can change that.”

“God, you sound like those girls in Wattpad books who think they can change the bad boy,” Connor said

“You do.” Drew nodded.

“Shut up, you two. But god, a married couple? I don’t even know how married people act.” Annabeth scowled at the smooth surface of her desk.

“Priya and I just act like we always do,” Drew added.

“I have never even met your wife, Drew.” Annabeth leaned back into her chair.

“Just do normal couple things,” Connor added on.

“But we’re not normal.”

Drew rolled her dark eyes. “Show affection, it’s simple. You can show affection, right?”

“I don’t think she can.” Connor sipped his coffee.

“I hate you both.” Annabeth grinned at the pair.

“Annabeth!” Athena’s sharp voice cut through the room and Annabeth scrambled to fix her posture and tuck back her blonde hair haphazardly, she had to maintain a good front for her.

Athena’s eyes narrowed at her as she gestured for Annabeth to follow her before turning on her heel and striding into the shadowed hallway leading to her office.

Annabeth swallowed as she stands up, smoothing down the front of her black blazer, she glared at Drew, who mouthed ‘good luck’ to her, and Connor who gave her a look of pity. Raising her head arrogantly, Annabeth caught up with Athena.

“You called, Ms. Pantazis?”

“Jackson is here, you will discuss the mission with Poseidon and me in my office.” Athena didn't spare Annabeth a glance as she opened the door to her office.

Entering, Annabeth analyzes the two men in the room as she sits down. She looked at the younger one, Perseus. Jet-black hair, dark tan, sea-green eyes. Then she turned her meticulous gaze at the other, older one, Poseidon Filo, head of Atlantída Academy, the same hair, and eyes as Jackson, she noted. _They must be related_ , Annabeth gazed them both some more before turning her attention back to Athena.

“Nemesis Kokkinos and Ethan Nakamura have been spotted with Kronos Hasapis, we cannot have people sent to Kokkinos, you two will go undercover as Caspian and Genevieve Parker at Phorcys Aquarium, where Nakamura works as a marine biologist. Get close to him and report back information about his mother and anything about the Scythe, the Circle of Othrys, or Hasapis.” Athena paced behind her chair as she instructed them.

“This is serious, we have intel that the Circle of Othrys have been planning something surrounding the Scythe for months if not years, that’s why we need both of you on this,” Poseidon spoke as he turned to look at them.

“You will be staying at the apartment complex Ethan lives at. You two will be going undercover as Caspian and Genevieve Parker, your backstory is as follows; Perseus transferred to Annabeth’s school in the sixth grade, you two disliked each other at first, then got paired up on a project and became close friends, started dating at 16, got married at 23. You can make up the rest, any questions?” Athena’s stare bore into Annabeth like they had many times before.

“Why do we need to be married?” Perseus asked the obvious and Annabeth nodded, that's what she had been wondering.

“We have equipment in that apartment, it’s easier to use one set of everything than two,” Athena clarified.

“Yeah, but-”

“That is all, Jackson. Argus will take you to the apartment where you will be staying, you will find all your belongings have been transferred there, you are both dismissed.” Athena cut him off.

Annabeth risked a look at Perseus, observing the way his jaw clenched as he muttered something incoherently. She rose from her chair and nodded at Athena before turning on her heel and walking out of the small room, trusting that Perseus would follow.

The door closed behind her and Annabeth turned to face him.

“Look-“

“Jackson“

They both start before stopping again, Annabeth continued, her face hard.

“Jackson, I know these aren’t the best circumstances, but we need to stay professional. This can help my career and I can’t have you mess this up for me, so as long as we’re working together, we will act like Caspian and Genevieve, got it?” Annabeth looked at him expectantly.

“Look, Annabeth, I’m not dumb, okay? This can help my career too, I’m not going to mess something as serious up, and it’s stupid of you to think that lowly of me just because I’m from Atlantída.”

Annabeth’s nostrils flared as Perseus' words sunk in. “How-” she’s cut off by knock from down the hall, turning, she sees Argus waiting from them.

“Let’s go then.” She huffed and followed Argus without sparing a glance at the green-eyed boy behind her who stonily glared at her back.

::

The apartment was nice, Annabeth would admit that. The living room was large, decorated with a black, leather couch set, a glass coffee table and several paintings hanging up against the wall above the fake fireplaces. Behind her, Perseus whistled, taking in the room. Wanting to put as much room between herself and him, Annabeth walked down a hallway and opened the first door, a bedroom, and entered, locking the door behind her.

The nerve of that boy, waltzing into her Institute then calling her stupid for wanting to succeed. Annabeth cursed him.

“Uh, Chase? When you’re done acting like a toddler, come out so we can talk about the assignment.” Perseus' voice called from behind the door.

Flinging open the door and marching over to him, Annabeth glared at Perseus. He just grinned at her. _Asshole_.

Perseus tossed her a Manila folder, specifically the case file.

“I’ve already read this.” Annabeth sat down on the large couch.

“Well, read it again then.” Perseus rolled his green eyes as he leaned back into the couch.

Annabeth scowled. “Let’s just talk about it, what do you know about the Scythe?”

“As much as you do, almost nothing, just that it’s a weapon or tool they have.” Perseus stared at the glass coffee table in thought.

Annabeth exhaled roughly. “Great, just great.”

“Well, it’s not like you have any info either.” Perseus sent her an annoyed glance.

Ignoring him, Annabeth spoke. “Okay, we know that Nemesis and Ethan have been seen with Kronos, so they both have links to the Circle of Othrys. If we get close, we might be able to get something from Ethan.”

“But what does the Circle do? No one even knows, how are we supposed to get information on it if it might not even exist?” Perseus groaned as he leans back into the soft sofa.

“That’s why you need to take this seriously.”

“I am taking it seriously, it’s not my fault your superiority complex won’t let you see that.” Perseus glared at her, his eyes dark.

“Well, I ignore you, you ignore me, then.” Annabeth huffed.

“I don’t know if you realized, Chase, but we need to work together if we’re going to find out who the Circle is and what they want.”

“We already know who the Circle of Othrys is, they’re a group of people who work with Kronos Hasapis to…” Annabeth trailed off, what _did_ the Circle want and _who_ were they specifically?

Perseus smirked. “See? We know nothing except for the fact that their boss is Kronos Hasapis. We have nothing except for the fact that he’s been in contact with Nemesis Kokkinos and Ethan Nakamura, Kokkinos is a dead end, no one can get a hold of her, and Ethan might not even know anything. Imíaimos and Atlantída are just pulling at loose threads here, let’s admit it.”

“No, no, Ms. Pantazis and Mr. Filo assigned us on this because they knew we could handle it, they always know what to do, if they think we can figure out the Circle of Othrys is, we can,” Annabeth said, more to herself than Perseus, who just stood up and wandered to the hallway, muttering about being ‘so fucking optimistic’ and how ‘Athena and Poseidon have been off their rockers for a while, probably don’t know shit about the Circle and Scythe’.

Annabeth watched him go, silently seething. How dare he? Ms. Pantazis was the strongest and wisest women she knew, how could Athena Pantazis be off her rocker?

Annabeth stood up, walking over to the window overlooking the New York skyline she sighed. Acting like a married couple would be hard, but acting like Perseus Jackson’s wife? Well, that would be even harder.

::

“And these are the tiger sharks, these animals can grow to be as long as 20 to 25 feet!” Annabeth plastered a smile onto her face as she overlooks the group of awed third graders she’s giving a tour to, she inwardly scowled when she notes Perseus loitering in the corner by a tank of spiny dogfish sharks snickering at her. Annabeth Chase, renowned spy in both Imíaimos Institute and Atlantída Academy, known for her stealth and speed in missions giving a tour of an aquarium to a bunch of nine-year-olds. Annabeth sighed, what has her life come to.

“Alright, children, lunchtime, now follow me!” Silena Beauregard, Annabeth’s co-worker, grinned at the group charismatically, and lead them to the cafeteria.

Annabeth sighed, she loved children, but god, if another kid asked her if they could bring a fish home she would snap.

She caught Perseus' nod towards the empty janitor’s closet as he walked into it, waiting for a few minutes and making sure no one would see her, Annabeth followed him into the dark cupboard.

“Have you seen Nakamura?” She questions once she closed the heavy door as quietly as she could, which wasn’t that quiet if she’s being honest.

“Cutting to the Chase, huh, Chase?” He grinned at the pun as Annabeth groaned.

“Just tell me, Jackson.” Annabeth scowled at him, although she wasn’t sure he could see it in the dark of the closet.

“No, I passed by his office a couple of times, but couldn’t go in,” Perseus admitted.

“After hours we can sneak in, go through Nakamura’s office to find anything about the Circle of Othrys, then get out as soon as possible.”

“We?” Perseus raised a dark eyebrow at her.

“Yes, we. I’m not letting you do everything, Jackson, I have a part in this too. I need to show Ms. Pantazis that I’m trustworthy.”

“Oh my god, just shut up about Athena, all you do is talk about how you want to earn her trust. You sound like Zuko with his honour.” Perseus rolled his eyes, Annabeth was convinced that if either he or Drew rolled their eyes any longer they'd fall out.

Annabeth blinked. “Who and his honour?”

“You’ve never watched _Avatar: The Last Airbender_ before? You’re more boring than I thought.”

“Well, I’m sorry I don’t waste my time on stupid things like pop culture.” Annabeth narrowed her already narrowed eyes at him.

“Whatever, I’m going, wait a little bit before you leave.”

“I’m not stupid, you know,” Annabeth scoffed.

“I doubt that.” She heard Jackson mutter before leaving, Annabeth’s fist clenched around a broom handle as thoughts of him run through her head. How infuriating can a guy be? Taking deep breaths to calm herself down, Annabeth straightened the front of her uniform before stepping out. Walking out of the closet, she came face to face with Charles Beckendorf, an electrical engineer at Phorcys, he raised an eyebrow at her.

“I get you two are married and everything, but can you refrain from making out in closets?” Annabeth’s eyes widened.

“Oh, uh, we weren’t doing anything, just uh, just talking.” Heat rushed to her cheeks involuntarily.

Beckendorf just laughed. “Yeah, I’ve heard that before.”

“Beckendorf!” Katie Gardner’s voice rung out around the room as she beckons him over. Shooting her a look, Beckendorf walked away as Annabeth lets out a long breath, well, being fake married gave them an excuse to have secret meetings in janitor closest so that was one perk.

“Genevieve!” Silena called and Annabeth sighed again, she'd been doing that a lot lately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there's that, feel free to tell me what you think either here or on Tumblr (@aphroditesdoves), I'd love to hear your thoughts.
> 
> -Tharini


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Perseus and Annabeth sneak into Nakamura's office and find a suspicious note, they also encounter some difficulties escaping and loyalties are tested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok, here's chapter 2 like a week later, but anyway, did not read through this so there's a bunch of spelling and grammatical mistakes, and thanks Vi for making me finish this chapter.
> 
> Disclaimer: All characters belong to Rick Riordan

**“** No,  _ you  _ shut up!” Perseus glared at Annabeth as she picked the lock to Nakamura’s office. 

“Stop yelling. Jesus, you don’t shut up, do you?” Annabeth scowled at him as she twisted the bobby pin in the keyhole. 

Perseus just leaned against the wall next to the office door, his dark clothing blending into the black surface of the smooth wall. 

Annabeth placed her ear against the door, grinning as she heard the  _ click  _ of the door unlocking. Opening the heavy metal door, she and Perseus walked in, their footsteps light and graceful. Annabeth looked around, nothing suspicious, just a normal office. In her peripheral vision, she saw Perseus poking around through the drawers of the desk in the corner. Annabeth walked over to the filing cabinet against the gray walls, she opened it and started to flip through the countless Manila folders in the drawer, which was slightly difficult seeing as her hands were gloved if she’s being honest. She faltered at one and picked it out of its place among the other identical folders. Opening it, she read the six dark words typed on the yellowing paper.

_ The Bolt is in our possession. _

“What?” Annabeth muttered, beckoning Perseus over, she showed him the note.

“The Bolt? What’s that?” He took the folder from her, inspecting the note.

Annabeth sighed as she shrugged unknowingly. 

“Let’s print a copy of it and take the original to the lab to see if there are any prints on it.” Annabeth slipped the paper out of the folder and placed it in the photocopier against the back wall, she and Perseus stay in awkward silence until the photocopier beeps, she takes out the copy and placed it back into the beige folder before slipping the original into her bag, she nodded at Perseus before exiting, her body tense and steps light.

Sneaking through the shadows of the aquarium, Annabeth and Perseus made their way to the back exit, past the old broken glass tanks and pipes. A figure moved in front of them and Annabeth’s eyes widened, there wasn’t supposed to be anyone there, well, they were there but that surely didn’t count, Perseus hid behind a gray pillar and Annabeth followed his move, hiding behind a pillar a few feet away, they watched the figure’s shadow move against the wall opposite them. 

“Genevieve? Caspian?”

_ Shit.  _

Perseus peered from behind the large slab of concrete, Annabeth turned to look at the figure after observing the way Perseus’ eyes widened then narrowed at the sight of the arcane person. Turning, Annabeth came face to face with Alecto Dodds, an old tour guide at Phorcys, Annabeth and Perseus shared a look. Better to rip the bandaid off.

“Hey, Mrs. Dodds! How are you?” Perseus grinned at her, his posture relaxed, but stiff enough to launch an attack if needed. 

“It’s no good snooping around in things that don’t concern you, honey.” Alecto smiled her eerie grin at them. “Especially in things regarding the Circle.”

“You know about the-” Annabeth started, her gray eyes blown wide.

“The Circle? Well, of course, I do, honey. I  _ am  _ part of it, after all.”

Annabeth risked a look at Perseus, his face mirrored the shock she felt at Alecto’s blatant admittance at being part of the Circle.

“But you’re old!”  _ That’s  _ what he had to say about this?

Alecto turned her glare to Perseus, her blue eyes bright. “I think I’ll start with you first, Perseus.”

“How do you know my name?” Perseus glared at her, all the previous tranquillity in his body gone as he stared down Alecto. 

Alecto let out a laugh, Annabeth’s eyebrows furrow at the familiar idiosyncrasy of the cackle.  _ Athena _ . It reminded her of Athena, the undertones of superiority, the roughness instead of mirth, it all screamed Athena.

“The Circle has ties everywhere, including Imaímos and Atlantída,” Alecto sneered, bringing Annabeth out of her confused musing. 

Annabeth faltered, a spy in Imaímos? Well, they were all spies, but a spy from the Circle at Imaímos? There’s no way Athena would allow that. 

Annabeth’s jaw clenched. “You’re lying.” 

“You two are posing as a married couple to get close to Ethan Nakamura who has been spotted with Kronos Hasapis, your task is to find information about the Circle and the Scythe. Am I correct?” Alecto smirked at them, looking more and more demonic by the moment. 

Perseus advanced towards Alecto, his face closed off and stony as he spoke. 

“I don’t want to hurt you, Alecto, just tell us what you know, and we’ll let you go.”

“You underestimate me, honey,” Alecto croaked out before she lunged towards him. 

Perseus sidestepped quickly, his posture dropping into a fighting stance as Alecto threw her fist at him. 

Annabeth snuck up on her, raising her fist to swing at her when Alecto turned, grabbing Annabeth’s fist she twisted it and tugged it towards her before bringing her foot behind Annabeth’s knee and swiping her to the floor. Falling onto her back, Annabeth made eye contact at Perseus and nodded at some extra wire on the floor. He ran towards it as Annabeth rolled over, overpowering Alecto who just cackled at her once more. God, if she laughed one more time, Annabeth was going to shove her sock into that old hag's throat. 

“You wouldn’t hurt an old lady, would you, Genevieve?” 

“I would, actually.” Annabeth punched her, feeling only a little bit guilty about beating up the elderly. 

Perseus approached them from behind, wire in his hands, as Annabeth held Alecto’s hands together. Wrapping the thin line around her wrists, he leaned Alecto against a pillar before wrapping the thin steel rod around her middle to keep her in place. 

“That was anticlimactic,” Perseus commented as he finished tying the wire, he stood up from his knees before taking a place on Annabeth’s left, analyzing Alecto’s slumped figure.

Annabeth shot him a look. “Well she’s like 90, it’s not going to be a huge fistfight. What were you even expecting?” 

“I don’t know, but something better than  _ that,  _ that’s for sure.” 

Annabeth shook her head before turning back to Alecto, she crouched down in front of her, her eyes narrow as she took in Alecto’s ragged appearance. 

“What do you know about the Circle of Othrys?” Her voice was low as she questioned Alecto. 

Alecto just laughed and Annabeth fought the urge to stick something into her ears to cancel out the god-awful cackling. “You’re a fool if you think I’d tell you anything, Annabeth.” 

“This isn’t optional, Alecto, either you tell us or… you know the rest,” Percy threatened, his face stony as he stared her down. 

“You’ll what? Take me to your precious academy? Wonder what Poseidon will think once he’s told his  _ star pupil  _ can’t interrogate a Circle member properly, that he’s incompetent and is too cowardly to face the group that killed his mother.” 

Perseus tensed, his jaw and hands clenched as Alecto’s words sank into Annabeth’s mind. Son? She  _ knew  _ he was Poseidon’s son! But the Circle killed his mother? Why hadn’t he told her? Brushing away her queries, Annabeth spoke out again. 

“Give her the chloroform, we’ll take her to the Institute for questioning,” Annabeth instructed. 

“Why the Institute? Let’s just take her to the Academy,” Perseus countered, still tense from Alecto’s words. 

“The Institute is closer, Jackson.” Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him defiantly. 

“Well, the Academy is better, we might  _ actually  _ get info out of her if we take her there.” 

“Your Academy is full of incompetent and impertinent idiots, I don’t see how it’s better.” Annabeth stood up, resting her hand on her hip as she glared at Perseus. 

“Oh yeah? Your Institute is full of snobs with superiority complexes and ego issues.”

“We have superiority complexes because we’re better than you dumbasses from the Academy.”

“You sound like a third-grader. You guys always talk about how you’re better, but who had the most successful assignments last year? Atlantída.” 

“Yeah,  _ last  _ year, not this year. Imaímos is going to kick your asses.” 

“A bunch of privileged smartasses are going to win against  _ us _ ? Yeah, right.” Percy scoffed. 

“Well-“ Annabeth gets cut off by Alecto’s cough, turning to look at her, her eyes widen at the pool of blood on the floor surrounding the old woman. 

Alecto grinned at her through blood-stained teeth. “Too late.” She dissolved into a coughing fit, dark crimson blood spilling out of her mouth and standing out on her pale chin like dark letters standing out on white paper. 

“Fuck! She’s dead!”

“No shit, Sherlock.” Annabeth glared at him before looking back at Alecto’s slumped figure.

What were they supposed to do?

“Should we still take her to the Academy?” Perseus questioned hesitantly, taking a tentative step forward towards Alecto’s dead body.

Annabeth had no idea. What were you supposed to do when you found out some old lady was part of a dangerous organization and revealed there was a mole in the Institute and Academy, then ended up coughing up blood and dying? Annabeth didn’t even hit her  _ that _ hard.

“Let’s call Ms. Pantazis,” Annabeth took a breather before taking out her phone and dialling Athena’s number.

It went to voicemail. Annabeth stared at her phone, why didn’t she pick up?

“I’ll call Poseidon,” Perseus offered and Annabeth decided not to dwell on the fact he called him Poseidon instead of father. 

“Shit, why isn’t he picking up?” Perseus muttered, dialling Poseidon’s number again. 

Annabeth bit her nail as thoughts ran through her mind, how odd, Athena usually picked up all her phone calls, or she’d have her secretary, Calypso, pick it up. Annabeth remembered the one time Calypso didn’t hear the phone ringing and let it go to voicemail, her eardrums haven’t been the same since and she wasn’t even the one Athena was screeching at. Annabeth inwardly winced at the memory. 

Perseus' loud curses pulled Annabeth out of her thoughts, he clutched his foot jumping around a little bit. 

“What did you do?” Annabeth narrowed her eyes at him, she’d been doing that more and more.

“I got mad.” Perseus looked down sheepishly.

“And?”  _ Please don’t tell me you kicked the pillar out of frustration. _

“I kicked the pillar.”

Annabeth stares at him, unamused. He reminds her of Clarisse, sometimes aggressive and angry, others sarcastic and witty, Annabeth remembers the last mission they went on and her mood immediately sours. Clarisse had made it back, but barely. 

“Uh, Chase? You okay?” Perseus peered at her expectantly.

Annabeth nodded. “You just remind me of someone. I’m going to call Drew, she works with forensics at the Institute, she can help.”

Perseus didn’t argue that time.

::

“That doesn’t make sense, blows couldn’t have killed her, only momentarily hurt her even with her age.” Drew furrowed her eyes as Annabeth and Perseus recounted the odd encounter with Alecto, she tapped her dark red nail against the white surface of the lab. 

Perseus groaned into his hands. “That's why we came to you, Tanaka because it doesn’t make sense, we already knew that.” 

Drew glared at him. “Well, I’m only helping you because Annabeth’s asking, don’t think I’m doing this for you.”

“Do you know what the Bolt is?” Annabeth shot a look at Perseus, a warning to stop angering Drew and more.

“The Bolt? No idea, you guys could go talk to the Huntresses or something, they might know something.” 

“It’s fine, we don’t need help, we’ll just go to Ms. Pantazis or Mr. Filo.” Annabeth stood up, leaving the lab with Perseus hot on her trail. 

“Some forensic scientist you got there.” 

“She married.” 

“Not what I meant, plus, I’m technically also married.” 

Annabeth scowled at him. “As long as we’re in the Institute or Academy, we’re Perseus and Annabeth, not Caspian and Genevieve, remember.” 

“It’s Percy, actually.”

“And?” 

“You don’t have to act like such a bitch you know.” 

“I just want to get through this mission and find information about the Circle efficiently, I’m sorry for taking this seriously.” 

“Not this again,” Percy rolled his eyes before grabbing Annabeth’s wrist, stopping her from moving. 

“What is it, Jackson?” Annabeth glared at him, how insufferable can one boy be?

“Let’s not tell Athena and Poseidon.” Percy looked around before looking back at Annabeth, his face dark. 

“Are you crazy? Why  _ wouldn’t _ we tell them?” If she couldn’t trust Athena, who could she trust?

“Look, Annabeth,” she noted that he called her by her first name. “Isn’t it suspicious that neither of them picked up their phone? I don’t know about Athena, but Poseidon  _ always _ picks up the phone, no matter at what hour.” 

“Well, maybe they just wanted a break, Ms. Pantazis needs it out of all people,” Annabeth defended, glaring at Percy.

“Look, I’m just saying, this whole thing is suspicious, it’s better not to trust anyone.”

“What? I can trust  _ you  _ and not Ms. Pantazis?” 

“Pretty much, yeah.” 

Annabeth twisted her arm out of his grasp and glared at him some more before walking down the hall to Athena’s office, leaving Percy at the end of the hall. 

“You don’t understand, Poseidon!” Athena’s voice yelled from behind the large door. 

Annabeth stopped,  _ what on earth?  _ She pressed her ear against the cold surface of the door and waited for Poseidon’s response. 

“Either you tell her, or I do. She deserves to know.” Poseidon’s voice boomed. 

_ Who are they talking about?  _ Annabeth pressed her ear against the door more, desperately wanting to know more. 

Chair legs screeched as someone stood up. 

“I believe we are done here, Poseidon.”

“I suppose we are.”

_ Shit,  _ Annabeth ran around the corner and pressed her back against the black wall, her breathing shallow and quiet. She poked her head out as Poseidon’s footsteps became distant and hesitantly knocked on Athena’s door.

“In.” Annabeth felt momentarily shocked at the weariness that seeped through Athena’s voice, she rarely showed signs of weakness to anyone. 

Opening the door, Annabeth took in Athena’s weary appearance, dark circles took over her pale face under her cold gray eyes and her thin lips were turned down, realizing Annabeth’s presence, her face went from tired to confused then to cold indifference. 

“What is it, girl?” Athena raised a dark eyebrow at her, her gray eyes malicious as she straightened her back. 

“We found a member of the Circle, Alecto Dodds, she died after confrontation because of unknown reasons, her body is currently in the laboratory, Ms. Pantazis.”

Athena leaned back into her chair, her eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“Alecto Dodds, what do you know about her?”

Annabeth gulped, staring at the ground she replied. “Nothing, ma’am.”

Athena shook her head, her disappoint evident on her face. “I expected better from you, Annabeth. I thought you’d be right for the job.”

Annabeth’s stomach dropped, Athena had trusted her and she failed. “I promise, Ms. Pantazis, I’ll do better, I  _ will  _ find information about the Circle of Othrys, whatever the Scythe it, I will destroy it.” 

Athena nodded. “Good, now you must find out how Alecto Dodds is related to the Circle as well as Ethan Nakamura. Don’t fail me.”

“I won’t.” Annabeth tilted her chin up. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's a wrap, feel free to tell me what you think on here or Tumblr, I'd love to hear what you think. I have no idea how to write fight scenes though so rip me.
> 
> -Tharini


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's the way it took me a month to write this, but yeah this is super short cause I didn't feel like writing a lot but yeah. also, percy's latino because I said so <3
> 
> All characters belong to Rick Riordan

Annabeth sunk down onto the cool wooden surface of the chair, the break room was empty save for herself and Katie Gardner. She fiddled with the wrapper of her yogurt as she waited for her break to end. Annabeth was so used to always being busy that when she actually got time for herself, she didn’t know what to do with it. 

The clock on the back wall was loud, it’s ticking broke the awkward silence.  _ Tick _ ,  _ tock, tick, tock  _ it drove Annabeth crazy. 

The break room doors swung open and Annabeth looked up, her eyes widened in recognition. Ethan Nakamura. He walked in, his hands in his pockets. Muttering a ‘hi’ to Katie he opened the fridge, turning to look over his shoulder at Annabeth, he shot her a small nod towards her before taking out a milk carton from the fridge. 

So this was the infamous Ethan Nakamura? If she was being honest, she didn’t think he had it in him to be a part of the Circle. It wasn’t that he was overly nice, no, he had barely acknowledged her and Percy since they arrived, but he didn’t  _ seem  _ like he would join an illegal group that did god knows what. He was just indifferent. 

Ethan sat on the seat in front of Annabeth, paying no heed to her. 

“Genevieve, you get Mayfield tomorrow.” Katie took a bite out of her apple as she sat down, shooting a sympathetic look to Annabeth.

Out of her peripheral vision, Annabeth saw Ethan wince, his gaze pitiful as it turned to her. 

“What’s Mayfield?” Annabeth leaned forward. Could Katie also have ties with the Circle? Maybe she and Ethan were undercover together and Mayfield was a code name for something. 

“It’s this private school, all the kids there are monsters.” Okay, maybe Katie wasn’t part of the Circle. “Last time they ransacked the break room.” 

A thin smile ghosted Ethan’s lips as Katie recalled the memory. Her chatter filled the previous silence, drowning out the steady ticking of the clock. 

“I have a tour, I’ll catch you guys later.” Katie threw the apple core into the trash can as she left, the heavy white door still swinging as her footsteps became distant. 

Annabeth stared at the smooth marble counter as she tapped her nail against the surface. The door opened again, but this time Percy stood behind it, the sheen of sweat on his brown skin glistened in the glaring tube lights above him. 

He panted out a greeting before sitting next to Annabeth if he acknowledged Ethan, he showed no sign of it as he leaned into his chair, his chest rose and fell as Annabeth took in the weariness painted over his face. 

Ethan rose out of his chair, the chair legs screeched again, as an uncomfortable look took over his pale face. 

“Uh, I’ll just leave you two here.” He walked out, the door swung again as it had many, many times before that. 

“So that’s Ethan, huh?” Percy stared at the swinging white door. 

“Mhmm, what happened to you?” 

“Not important.” Percy waved his hand, he turned in his seat to face her, his face considerate as he rested his chin in his palm. 

“He doesn’t look like he could be part of the Circle.” 

“Well, you don’t look like you could be a spy.” Annabeth copied his position as she retorted, she didn’t mention that she thought the exact same thing. 

“Okay, good point. But how are we supposed to get any leads? The only two hints we have is a piece of paper and a dead lady.” Percy groaned into his hands, his forehead rested against the table.

Annabeth’s eyes widen as an idea formed in her head, Percy turned his head to face her, his cheek pressed against the surface.

“You have an idea, don’t you? You have that idea face.” He narrowed his eyes at her.

“What if we had the kids from Mayfield ransack Ethan’s office?” Annabeth grinned at him.

“Okay, there are two things wrong with that plan. One,” Percy puts up his pointer finger. “I have no idea what Mayfield is, and two,” he holds up his middle finger to join the first one. “We already went through Nakamura’s room.”

“Well, yeah, but there might be some more stuff in there.”

“So you’re saying we didn’t check properly?”

Annabeth scowled. “No, we checked properly, how could we not if I was there? But there might be more things in there that he got after we left.”

“You didn’t answer my first question though, what’s Mayfield?” 

“Katie told me it’s a private school, they give the staff hell every time they come in for a field trip. If we can bribe them to ransack Ethan’s office, we can go in under the premise of cleaning, that way we have an excuse in case we’re caught.” Annabeth explained. 

A loose grin spread across Percy’s lips. 

::

“No, Bobby, we aren’t going to pay you.” Annabeth was going to rip her hair out… then Bobby’s.

Bobby scowled at the ground. “Damn it.”

“You’re all rich, you don’t need the money, now go. It’s the fifth door on the right, it says Nakamura on the front, and don’t rat us out.” Percy nodded towards the hallway.

The students exchanged smirks and ran down the hall, Annabeth had a sudden change of heart.

“You know what? Maybe this isn’t a good idea.”

“You think? We have no idea what they’ll do. They might tell someone, but it’s the best chance. You were right, he might’ve done something after the time we went through his office.”

Annabeth grinned at the admittance of her being right, the familiar swelling feeling in her chest. Percy shot her a look. 

“Forget I said that.”

“Hmmm, no. You said it, and I’m going to remember it.” Annabeth grinned at him, taking great pleasure in the way Percy’s face fell.

Loud bangs sounded from Ethan’s office, laughter emitted from the room as well, the sounds boomed around the aquarium as everyone turned to the source of the disturbance.

Percy and Annabeth grinned at each other before running towards the office where the kids stood, papers cluttered the ground, pen ink was splashed against the walls, the cabinets and desk were flipped over. Annabeth stared at the room, how did they manage to wreck it that fast?

“That’s enough! Out!” They turned to find Phorcys, his arms crossed above his stomach and eyes narrowed. 

The students laughed and giggled amongst themselves before running out. 

Phorcys turned to Percy and Annabeth. “You two, clean this up while I get Nakamura.” He turned and left, his loud footsteps became quieter as the clock on the back wall ticked. 

“Ok, find anything that has any mention of the Bolt, got it.” Annabeth turned to look at Percy who just raised his eyebrow at her. 

“We went over the plan like, 20 times, I know.” 

Annabeth rolled her eyes as she crouched down and picked up a paper, disappointment filled her as she realized it was just some paperwork. 

“You do know there’s more than one paper, right? You shouldn’t be disappointed, there are way more pieces of evidence in here.” Percy gestured around the room. 

Annabeth just scowled at him before grabbing papers and arranging them into a pile before sifting through it. 

“You two! Who are you?” It wasn’t Ethan or Phorcys. Percy and Annabeth shared identical looks of confusion and apprehension. 

It was Nemesis. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and end scene, ok this was more of a filler chapter so it's not that interesting tbh, and I didn't read through this so if you saw errors, no you didn't <3
> 
> -Tharini


End file.
